Box Score #4 Southwest Minnesota State 3 #2 Wayne State 0

            #4 Southwest Minnesota State handed #2 Wayne State its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon in Northern Sun Conference volleyball as the Mustangs topped the Wildcats 25-21, 25-17, 25-23 at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  WSC is now 9-1 and 1-1 in the NSIC while SMSU is 7-3 and 1-1 in league play.
            The first set featured seven ties and four lead changes between the two clubs.  SMSU held an early 13-9 lead forcing a Wildcat timeout, but the 'Cats rallied and with the aid of two service aces from freshman Haley Kauth WSC knotted the score at 17 apiece following an Erin Gross kill.
            With WSC trailing 19-17, the 'Cats used a pair of Michaela Mestl kills, an SMSU service error and attack error to take a 21-19 lead.  However, the Mustangs scored the final six points of the set to post a 25-21 win.
            SMSU held the lead for the entire second set, building a 15-9 lead on the Wildcats while recording 18 kills in the set, to post a 25-17 win for a 2-0 lead.
            The Mustangs built a big lead early, then held off a late WSC rally in the third set, to finish with a 25-23 win to complete the sweep of the Wildcats.
            WSC trailed 19-13 in the set, but pulled within one at 22-21 following a Natalie Vondrak kill.  But the Mustangs used back to back kills to push the lead to 24-21 and SMSU held on for the 25-23 set win.
            Southwest Minnesota State hit .306 in the match compared to .157 for the Wildcats.  WSC had 33 kills on 115 attempts with 15 errors.  Both teams had 60 digs and six service aces in the contest while SMSU held an 8-3 edge in blocks over the Wildcats.
            Senior Michaela Mestl had 10 kills and nine digs in the contest for WSC.  Her nine digs moved her past the 1,500 career mark at WSC (1,504) and makes her the ninth player in school history to record 1,500 career digs.  Senior Alyssa Frauendorfer added nine kills and junior Erin Gross had seven.
            Senior Natalie Vondrak accounted for 20 digs with freshman libero Haley Kauth producing 12 and junior Bree Ackermann 10.  Sophomore setter Megan Gebhardt was credited with 29 set assists.      
            Wayne State will be on the road Tuesday evening visiting #20 Augustana in a 7 p.m. NSIC contest.